This invention relates to an actuating mechanism for a multiple valve internal combustion engine and more particularly to an improved and compact valve arrangement for operating multiple valves in a single chamber of an internal combustion engine.
The advantages of the use of multiple valves for a single chamber of an internal combustion engine are well known. Among these advantages is the provision of a greater flow area within a given surface area with reduced operating component inertias. Because of this and other advantages, it has been proposed to employ engines having at least three valves per cylinder. In fact, engines having a greater number of valves per cylinder have been proposed and have a number of advantages. However, there is a practical limit, with engines of the type previously proposed, as to the number of valves that may be employed in a given cylinder. Although it may be physically possible to provide multiple valves, there are other factors governed by the valve placement. For example, it is possible to use a large number of valves if the supporting area for the valves, be it the cylinder head or cylinder block, has a large surface area. However, the use of such large surface areas significantly increases the clearance volume of the engine and reduces the compression ratio. A reduction in the compression ratio, obviously, reduces the output efficiency of the engine and thus the advantages of the use of multiple valves is offset by this disadvantage. Furthermore, there is a practical limit to the types of actuating elements that may be used for the valves and this further determines the valve placement. With prior art types of devices, it has been relatively impractical to provide more than three or four valves in a given cylinder, particularly where it is desired to provide more than two valves that provide the same function.
It is, therefore, a principal object of this invention to provide an improved arrangement for placing and actuating the valves of an internal combustion engine.
It is another object of this invention to provide a valve arrangement for an internal combustion engine that permits an increase in the number of valves that are employed without complicating the engine construction.
It is yet a further object of this invention to provide an improved and simplified arrangement for actuating plural valves of a given combustion chamber of an internal combustion engine.